hazard

[haz-erd]

noun

1. an unavoidable danger or risk, even though often foreseeable.

   The job was full of hazards.

   Antonyms: safety

2. something causing unavoidable danger, peril, risk, or difficulty.

   The many hazards of the big city did nothing to convince her to leave.

3. the absence or lack of predictability; chance; uncertainty.

   There is an element of hazard in the execution of the most painstaking plans.

   Synonyms: fortuitousness, fortuity, accident

4. Golf.,  a bunker, sand trap, or the like, constituting an obstacle.

5. the uncertainty of the result in throwing a die.

6. a game played with two dice, an earlier and more complicated form of craps.

7. Court Tennis.,  any of the winning openings.

8. (in English billiards) a stroke by which the player pockets the object ball winning hazard or their own ball after contact with another ball losing hazard.

verb (used with object)

1. to offer (a statement, conjecture, etc.) with the possibility of facing criticism, disapproval, failure, or the like; venture.

   He hazarded a guess, with trepidation, as to her motives in writing the article.

2. to put to the risk of being lost; expose to risk.

   In making the investment, he hazarded all his savings.

   Synonyms: imperil, peril, endanger, stake

3. to take or run the risk of (a misfortune, penalty, etc.).

   Thieves hazard arrest.

4. to venture upon (anything of doubtful issue).

   to hazard a dangerous encounter.

hazard

/ ˈhæzəd /

noun

1. exposure or vulnerability to injury, loss, evil, etc

2. at risk; in danger

3. a thing likely to cause injury, etc

4. golf an obstacle such as a bunker, a road, rough, water, etc

5. chance; accident (esp in the phrase by hazard )

6. a gambling game played with two dice

7. real tennis

   1. the receiver's side of the court

   2. one of the winning openings

8. billiards a scoring stroke made either when a ball other than the striker's is pocketed ( winning hazard ) or the striker's cue ball itself ( losing hazard )

verb

1. to chance or risk

2. to venture (an opinion, guess, etc)

3. to expose to danger

Other Word Forms

• hazardable adjective
• hazarder noun
• hazardless adjective
• prehazard adjective
• unhazarded adjective
• unhazarding adjective
• well-hazarded adjective
• hazard-free adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hazard¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English hasard from Old French, perhaps from Arabic al-zahr “the die”

Word History and Origins

Origin of hazard¹

C13: from Old French hasard, from Arabic az-zahr the die

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. at hazard, at risk; at stake; subject to chance.

   His reputation was at hazard in his new ventures.

Synonym Study

See danger.

Example Sentences

Either because banks wise up, or because the next crisis forces regulators to stop pretending that free liquidity and moral hazard are sound public policy.

Read more on MarketWatch

North Lanarkshire Council has now told her the tunnel - which includes carved pumpkins, models of witches and skeletons and spooky artwork - is a "potential hazard" because it has plastic pipes and wooden rails.

Read more on BBC

Scientists have long studied the Taurid stream, but a recent study led by Research Professor Mark Boslough takes a closer look at its potential hazards.

Read more on Science Daily

But the use of low-earth orbit satellites for mobile communications has been criticised by astronomers, who say they pollute the night sky and make it more difficult to spot potential hazards such as asteroids.

Read more on BBC

She’s not a victim; she is merely a woman trying to cope with love’s emotional hazards.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• accident 
• mishap 
• possibility 
• risk